Tierra templada (Spanish for ''temperate land'') is a pseudo-climatological term used in Latin America to refer to places which are either located in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also refer ...

at a moderately high elevation or are marginally outside the astronomical tropics, producing a somewhat cooler overall

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

than that found in the tropical lowlands, the zone of which is known as the

tierra caliente ''Tierra caliente'' is an informal term used in Latin America to refer to places with a distinctly tropical climate. These are usually regions from sea level from 0–3,000 feet.Zech, W. and Hintermaier-Erhard, G. (2002); Böden der Welt – Ein Bi ...

. In countries situated close to the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can also ...

, the ''tierra templada'' typically has an elevation span of between . These thresholds become lower as the

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

increases. The Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal used following altitudes: *1,000 m as the border between the tropical rainforest and the subtropical cloud forest *2,300 m as the end of the subtropical cloud forest ('' Yunga fluvial'') *3,500 m as the treeline *4,800 m as the puna end ''Tierra templada'' has mean average temperature between .

Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

is grown extensively as a cash crop, with grains such as

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

being cultivated for subsistence purposes - in contrast to the warmer ''tierra caliente'', where tropical fruits predominate.

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of whi ...

in Mexico is an example of a city that lies in the ''tierra templada'', having a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tierra Templada Altitudinal life zones of Peru Climate of South America Geography of Mesoamerica Spanish words and phrases Geography of South America Montane ecology

See also

References